The update adds more than 6000 new Australian words and phrases, including words from more than 100 indigenous languages. It now has definitions and the history of 16,000 words and phrases unique to Australia. Babyccino, long black, battered sav, chiko roll, dagwood dog and fairy bread — all everyday descriptions of what we eat and drink, but only now officially recorded. “Carry on like a pork chop”, “couldn’t run a chook raffle” and “a cup of tea, a Bex and good lie down” are included, as are “do a Bradbury”, “straight to the pool room” and “happy as a bastard on Father’s Day”. Launching the dictionary, Labor’s Andrew Leigh also picked-up “I don’t know if I’m Arthur or Martha”, the “blood’s worth bottling” and “wouldn’t know a tram was up him until the conductor rang a bell”.

I also explained, for the benefit of overseas readers, the meanings of babyccino, long black, battered sav and chiko roll. Here are some comments about a few more words and expressions . . . __________________________________ Dagwood Dog:

Whereas a battered save is a saveloy (a spicy sausage) coated in batter and deep fried, often from Fish n Chips shops, a Dagwood Dog is a Frankfurt coated in batter and deep fried, then served on a stick. It can be dipped in tomato sauce and is a staple at shows such as the Royal Easter Show. Comments:

Also known as a Pluto Pup.

The seppos call them corn dogs.

The name originated in the 1940s, being adapted from the Dagwood sandwich, named after Dagwood Bumstead, a US comic-strip character. Dagwood used to make himself gargantuan sandwiches:

The name Pluto Pup was coined by an entrepreneur who saw the Dagwood Dogs sell well and wanted to sell the same product but used a different name.

_________________________________ Fairy bread: From Wikipedia:

Fairy bread is sliced white bread spread with margarine or butter and covered with sprinkles or hundreds and thousands which stick to the spread. It is typically cut into four triangles. Fairy bread dates back to the 1920s in Australia, and is first recorded in The Hobart Mercury, which describes children consuming the food at a party. It is commonly served at parties in Australia and New Zealand. The origin of the term is not known, but it may come from the poem 'Fairy Bread' in Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses, published in 1885.

_________________________________ Carry on like a pork chop: When you grow up with expressions you never really think about origins until something brings it to mind. So it is with saying that another person carried on like a pork chop, meaning that they behaved in a silly, stupid or highly dramatic way, unnecessarily so. But why call it that? Pork chops don’t carry on, they are just pieces of meat. I have read that in its original form, the full expression was that a person was like, or carried on like, a pork chop at a Jewish wedding, pork being a no-no in the Jewish faith and community. As the expression was shortened, it also underwent a meaning shift. Comment: It brings to mind the following . . . A priest and a rabbi, by coincidence, were sitting next to each other on a long flight. About an hour passes and not a single word was exchanged by the two men. Finally, the priest turns to the rabbi and says, "Rabbi, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” The rabbi said, "Of course you may." "I understand that many of you Jewish people, especially rabbis, keep kosher and, as such, don't eat things like bacon or ham.” The rabbi acknowledged that. "Haven't you ever even tasted bacon or ham?", asked the priest. The rabbi explained, "Many years ago, I was a visiting rabbi in a small town in the middle of nowhere and found myself in a diner one Sunday morning. There was no one around so I ordered bacon and eggs. It was quite good but that was the only time that ever happened." After some time, the rabbi turned to the priest and said, "Father, do you mind if you ask you a very personal question?” The priest said OK. "You priests take an oath of celibacy, right?” asked the rabbi. "Why, yes,” answered the priest, wondering where this was going. "Well, haven't you ever had sex since you've become as priest?” asked the rabbi. The priest looked about nervously, leaned toward the rabbi and answered very softly, "As a young parishioner I was approached by a troubled woman who was looking for my guidance. She was a beautiful, young woman and one thing led to another. So, yes, just once I had sex with a woman.”

A few moments pass and the rabbi leans over to the priest and says, "A lot better than pork, isn't it."

From Arthur T in respect of the item on which superhero was the first to wear a skintight body outfit:

Morning I totally forgot the Phantom and would have said it was Superman. As I remember, we all used to swap comics with other kids in the ‘50’s and there was also a book shop that sold second hand comics at Balmain. Have a nice day. Yiasou. A.T

Thanks Arthur.

Here’s a couple of superhero funnies to start the week. . . __________________________________

Wayne sent me an email about the old photographs post:

Love the photos - keep them coming - the only thing that has changed in the Balmain photo is the cars. Wayne B

'Once a proud and mighty club, all the old boys are crying in heaven': Eerie pictures show the once-thriving but now dilapidated Balmain Leagues Club as fans remember a 'golden age'

Eerie photographs show how the Balmain Leagues Club has deteriorated in the seven years since it was sold for just $1.

The walls in Sydney's inner west have been covered top to bottom in graffiti, cords hang tangled from the ceiling, and furnishings are smashed and sprawled across the dilapidated site that squatters took over in 2010. A series of images by photographer Brett Patman, who captures abandoned and ‘forgotten environments’ for his project Lost Collective, show how far the club’s residence has plummeted as fans remember their golden age and the memorable 1989 grand final against the Canberra Raiders. The site at Rozelle in Sydney's inner west has been the subject of an ongoing redevelopment war, with outrage at the proposals and handling continuing today. It had originally been proposed that two towers as tall as 26 and 32-storeys would replace the site, which was rejected along with the incrementally smaller proposals.

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From Nick K in respect of the quote of the day that “Anger” is one letter short of “Danger” . . .

It is also apt to note that “laughter” is one letter short of “slaughter”.

Thanks. Nick.__________________________________ From Martin Smith, who checks carefully everything I post, in respect of the following joke: A Higgs Boson walks into a church. The priest says we don't allow Higgs Bosons in here. The Higgs Boson says “But without me, how can you have mass?”

Calling the boson that gives rise to mass a Higgs is an affront to those that have worked in this field in the 1960’s http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-22250092 I feel it was like the rejection of a science assignment that my daughter was doing about 12 years ago when I claimed that Pluto was not a planet… Unfortunately, I feel that the Higgs name will live on when in reality, success has many fathers..

Thanks Martin.

From the article at the above link:

One of the scientists who helped develop the theory of the Higgs boson says the particle should be renamed. Carl Hagen believes the name should acknowledge the work of others - not just UK physicist Peter Higgs. The long-running debate has been rekindled following speculation that this year's Nobel Prize for Physics will be awarded for the Higgs theory. The detection of a particle thought to be the Higgs was announced at the Large Hadron Collider in July last year. American Prof Hagen told BBC News: "I have always thought that the name was not a proper one. To single out one individual marginalises the contribution of others involved in the work. Although I did not start this campaign to change the name, I welcome it." Prof Peter Higgs developed a theory of how other sub-atomic particles came to have substance, or mass, and published his work in 1964. However, other researchers independently came up with similar ideas and they, along with Prof Higgs, have long argued for the name of the particle to be changed.

Here are a couple of more Higgs Boson items that will piss off Martin . . .